Roman Holidays And Festivals
Ancient Roman holidays &
Festivals
by emily deal
Ancient roman calendars were a little different than ours for, example their weeks were eight days long. The eight days didn't even have names, they were just letters. A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H.
On the eighth day of the week, H, a regular school holiday, kind of like our weekends. It was called Market Day, the meant for washing your whole body and going to market to get the food for the week. The series of letters, days, started on January 1st and started again every year
January 1st (60). On January 9th the Ancient Romans held a festival called Agnolia to Janus, god of gates and doorways. Janus was very important because the Romans believed that doorways were the weakest points on any building. "In 260 BC the Romans built an important gateway temple to
Janus after a victory against the previously unbeatable Carthaginian fleet. This was left open in times of war and closed when the armies had returned to the city" (Richard M. Heli, Ancient
Roman Holidays & Festivals).which is puzzling, but the meaning for it was so that while it was open Janus would be out fighting for Rome and when it was closed it meant that the God would not leave Rome (Richard M. Heli, Ancient Roman Holidays & Festivals). February, in Ancient Rome, was the official beginning of Spring and was considered a time for purification. On the 15th there was a festival called Lupercalia, which was started early in the day in the cave of Lupercal. Goats and one dog were sacrificed for the festival. Two teams of youths, each having a captain, dressed in the goat skins covered in blood. They would then run through the streets whipping people with the strips of goatskin,
Februa
. A woman hoping to produce a male child would try to get struck by the leather strap of lupercus (wolf). The festival
was later taken over by Christians and changed
Festivals
by emily deal
Ancient roman calendars were a little different than ours for, example their weeks were eight days long. The eight days didn't even have names, they were just letters. A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H.
On the eighth day of the week, H, a regular school holiday, kind of like our weekends. It was called Market Day, the meant for washing your whole body and going to market to get the food for the week. The series of letters, days, started on January 1st and started again every year
January 1st (60). On January 9th the Ancient Romans held a festival called Agnolia to Janus, god of gates and doorways. Janus was very important because the Romans believed that doorways were the weakest points on any building. "In 260 BC the Romans built an important gateway temple to
Janus after a victory against the previously unbeatable Carthaginian fleet. This was left open in times of war and closed when the armies had returned to the city" (Richard M. Heli, Ancient
Roman Holidays & Festivals).which is puzzling, but the meaning for it was so that while it was open Janus would be out fighting for Rome and when it was closed it meant that the God would not leave Rome (Richard M. Heli, Ancient Roman Holidays & Festivals). February, in Ancient Rome, was the official beginning of Spring and was considered a time for purification. On the 15th there was a festival called Lupercalia, which was started early in the day in the cave of Lupercal. Goats and one dog were sacrificed for the festival. Two teams of youths, each having a captain, dressed in the goat skins covered in blood. They would then run through the streets whipping people with the strips of goatskin,
Februa
. A woman hoping to produce a male child would try to get struck by the leather strap of lupercus (wolf). The festival
was later taken over by Christians and changed